ACADEMY OF SAINT GABRIEL REPORT 2358 http://www.s-gabriel.org/2358 ************************************ From: "Sara L Friedemann" 1 Oct 2001 Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel! You wanted to know if would be an appropriate name for a 14th century Welsh woman. If was not appropriate, you asked about as a given name. The only example of that we found was in the English will from 1636 that you mentioned. [1] In this document, it appears to be a form of . We would like to note that the in would not have been related at all to the French "sea." It is simply a variant spelling for the pronunciation of the name, \MAIR-ee-@n\. (The \@\ represents the sound of in or .) was a fairly popular name in England from the 13th century on [2]; however, we have not found any evidence that in any spelling was used in Wales before 1600. It would not be impossible, though, for a 14th century Welsh woman to be named . In one study of Welsh names in the 13th century, other names of Norman origin, including , , , , and , are found. [3] Based on these examples, it is possible that a Welsh woman from the 14th century could have been named . If you would like to consider other names that would be more appropriate, we recommend the following article: "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names" http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html We were unable to find as a given name or a surname in any of our medieval sources. Without evidence that it was used before 1600, we cannot recommend that you use this name. Your byname, , is an excellent choice. These spellings are both recorded in the 13th century. [3] With the caveat that the Welsh use of is very speculative, would be a fine name for a woman named , daughter of a man named , living in the 14th century. It would have been pronounced \MAR-y@n vairkh MAH-din\, where \kh\ is the sound of in Scottish or German . We hope that this letter has been useful to you, and that you will not hesitate to write again if any part was unclear or if you have further questions. Research and commentary on this letter were provided by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, Arval Benicoeur, Talan Gwynek, Maridonna Benvenuti, Julie Stampnitzky, and Juliana de Luna. For the Academy, ~Aryanhwy merch Catmael 1Oct01 --------------------------------------- References: [1] "The Will of Mary Moulton" at "Virtual Norfolk" (WWW: University of East Anglia, accessed 20 Sept 2001). From the URL below, follow the link "New World Migration" and then ""Willof Mary Moulton". http://www.uea.ac.uk/his/virtualnorfolk/welcome.htm [2] Talan Gwynek, "Feminine Given Names in _A Dictionary of English Surnames_" (SCA: KWHS Proceedings, 1994; WWW: J. Mittleman, 1997) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/talan/reaney/ [3] Jones, Heather Rose (aka Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn), "A Simple Guide to Constructing 13th Century Welsh Names" (WWW: J. Mittleman, 1996) http://www.s-gabriel.org/names/tangwystyl/welsh13.html